Physicist Parent

Alice chats with Dorothy

When Insults Had Class

These outstanding insults are from an era before the English language got boiled down to 4-letter words.  I did not check these for accuracy!

A member of Parliament to Disraeli:

 -"Sir, you will either die on the gallows or of some unspeakable disease."

- "That depends, Sir," said Disraeli, “whether I embrace your policies or your mistress."

"He had delusions of adequacy."- Walter Kerr

"He has all the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire."- Winston Churchill

"I have never killed a man, but I have read many obituaries with great pleasure."- Clarence Darrow

"He has never been known to use a word that might send a reader to the dictionary."- William Faulkner (about Ernest Hemingway).

"Thank you for sending me a copy of your book; I'll waste no time reading it."- Moses Hadas

"I didn't attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying I approved of it."- Mark Twain

"He has no enemies, but is intensely disliked by his friends.   - Oscar Wilde

- "I am enclosing two tickets to the first night of my new play; bring a friend, if you have one."- George Bernard Shaw to Winston Churchill
- "Cannot possibly attend first night, will attend second .... if there is one."- Winston Churchill, in response.

"I feel so miserable without you; it's almost like having you here."- Stephen Bishop

"I've just learned about his illness. Let's hope it's nothing trivial."- Irvin S. Cobb

"He is simply a shiver looking for a spine to run up."- Paul Keating

"He loves nature in spite of what it did to him."- Forrest Tucker

"Why do you sit there looking like an envelope without any address on it?"- Mark Twain

"Some cause happiness wherever they go;  others, whenever they go."- Oscar Wilde

"He has Van Gogh's ear for music."- Billy Wilder

"I've had a perfectly wonderful evening. But this wasn't it."- Groucho Marx.